The Weird, Wacky and Awesome World of the NFL - General Banter thread V3

Shedite27 wrote: »

If some lad being greedy cost my team an opportunity to be more competitive (more salary to spend elsewhere), I wouldn't have much love for him either.

Presume they’ll all be happy to sign one year deals at the vet minimum for the rest of their careers seeing as they’re such team players.

Calling him greedy just shows total ignorance. For some reason time and again fans side with and relate more to billionaire owners than players, who in many cases come from nothing, and are trying to make the most of their short careers.

If you want to blame anyone it is on the Steelers front office. They chose to risk tagging Bell again rather than make a long-term deal. Bell flagged well before he was tagged that he may sit out the 2018 season if they did and that has now come to pass. Bell was as much within his rights to not sign the franchise as the Steelers were in tagging him. Steelers managed to turn the situation into one where both sides lost.

Either way even if those players mistakenly 'dont have much love' for Bell, rummaging through his locker and taking what they want, especially in front of the media, is far from classy.

adrian522 wrote: »

Bells mistake was telling his team mates that he would be back for week 1. It was pretty selfish not to turn up for his team mates. It must grate with some of his lower paid team mates to see him pass up $14m and not turn up when everyone was expecting him to.

Not a bad strategy for Bell to get as much money as he can but he should have come clean much earlier that he wasn't coming back without a new deal.

You should be happy, one or the teams he’s heavily touted to be joining is the 49ers.

adrian522 wrote: »

49ers are more than happy with Breida (UDFA), McKinnion and Mostert who looked very good.

I don't see any way they would be paying Bell in free agency. And given the production Steelers have gotten from Conner it shows they were correct to not give a huge deal to Bell.

I'm sure someone will pay him but he may not get what he thinks he is worth,.

Someone will pay him & my gripe with Bell is the point you made, it’s the not being open & honest to team mates, most on an OL that blocked, pulled etc to help make him what he is. I get it’s business but he’s possibly passed up the best chance he’ll have at winning a ring. All his millions in years to come ain’t going to buy him one of those, especially if he signs with a team with plenty of cap space like the Jets.

OOnegative wrote: »

Someone will pay him & my gripe with Bell is the point you made, it’s the not being open & honest to team mates, most on an OL that blocked, pulled etc to help make him what he is. I get it’s business but he’s possibly passed up the best chance he’ll have at winning a ring. All his millions in years to come ain’t going to buy him one of those, especially if he signs with a team with plenty of cap space like the Jets.

Plenty of players have pawned their rings. I bet they'd rather 80 million

adrian522 wrote: »

I don't have any quotes and I've no intention of going looking for them. It was obvious from the reactions of his team mates that they expected him to report and to be there for the start of the season.

Why is Bell at fault for his teammate’s expectations? Surely managing their expectations is the job of the front office and coaches. Just because Bell showed up before the start of the season when tagged previously didn’t mean he was going to do it again.

I don't want it flagged at all.

This part of your post certainly sounded like you did, even though he made comments about sitting out 2018 right back last January.

adrian522 wrote: »

he should have come clean much earlier that he wasn't coming back without a new deal.

Because when you leave in Free agency the team can make plans to spend that money elsewhere. When you just don't show up for week one it's too late to grab a replacement.

Steelers could have let him leave in Free agency and spend the money elsewhere, but they instead chose to gamble that they could leverage him to show up by franchise tagging him again. It isn’t Bell’s fault they made that decision. He had as much right to not sign the tag as others had to walk as free agents and neither action is more selfish than the other.

billr67 wrote: »

The Steelers offered Bell a long term deal he turned it down wouldn't sign the tag end of story. He leaves he'll get paid elsewhere and the Steelers will move on with Connor. Anyone that thinks the Steelers have harmed themselves in anyway through all of this just isn't watching what's happening on the field.
If anything the likes of Connor, Hunt, Kamara hell even Phillip Lindsey have shown that investing big money in an older running back simply isn't worth it. Better to split that investment across your offensive line like the Steelers did.
As a Steelers fan I'll always love Bell but if we were to win the SB this year with Connor I'd be even happier. That kids been through hell and just wants to play. If anything he's a far better role model than Bell will ever be.

I agree with a lot of that (general value of RBs, Connor’s background) however cant with some of it.

Talk of a long term deal is rubbish, it basically only had the value of the franchise tag this year guaranteed.

I think Connor is good but he isn’t at the same level as Bell. He could prove me wrong from here but Bell was doing things that Connor has not shown yet.

Steelers haven’t split any of Bell’s money across the line or anywhere else as they couldn’t use the cap space while Bell was tagged.

I’m sure Connor just wants to play right now but I’m just as sure things will change for him when he comes to the end of his rookie deal. What Bell is doing will help him when that point comes (obviously CBA could change the whole thing).

billr67 wrote: »

I'm not saying they split the money across the line now they already have one of the highest paid lines in the NFL. I'm saying that's a better investment for other teams than over paying a running back.
The stats also say he's outperforming Bell right now obviously in a smaller sample size but still can't see where the Steelers have played this wrong. Maybe I'd feel different if Connor was a bust but he's been brilliant.

Sure Connor has worked out. The poitt is pay Bell if you want him and don't complain if you don't.

The Steelers could have let him go in free agency and it would have saved some cap space. That would have been optimal. Would have also allowed Bell to see what he is worth on the market.

Bell is 100 percent right to sit out. Why risk getting injured, the whole league knows a team will pay him next year

adrian522 wrote: »

No, I don't think so, he'll get a deal somewhere but not as much as I think he'll be expecting.

He may not get Gurley or Johnson money but he'll get more money guaranteed than he would have on the franchise tag this year or what the Steelers were offering

Christy42 wrote: »

Sure Connor has worked out. The poitt is pay Bell if you want him and don't complain if you don't.

The Steelers could have let him go in free agency and it would have saved some cap space. That would have been optimal. Would have also allowed Bell to see what he is worth on the market.

Who is complaining? I certainly have no complaints and we're going to save that cap space in the long run anyway.

Can someone give me an example of any NFL team that would have cut an asset like Bell without tagging him? at the very least they hoped they could trade him as nobody expected him to pass up €14 million or a portion of €14 million. He went on and on about getting paid and he will be. Realistically people thought this was Kurt Cousins all over again Tag earn a fortune, Tag earn another fortune then leave.

Bell doesn't look like he's missing football either, which is another reason some GM's might look elsewhere.

Foxtrol wrote: »

Stats also say Eli is having the best year of his career. Conner is running up big numbers but he's had a healthy OL, Ben, AB and, JuJu improving on last year and I’m still not seeing him do things that we’ve seen Bell do for years. He has a run of Jags, Broncos, Chargers, Patriots, and Saints in the next 7 weeks so if he can keep up his performances then I’ll definitely take notice.

Bell in his best year had 11 Touchdowns 8/9 Rushing and 3/2 receiving and his best rushing season was 9 TD's last year. Connor has 11 TD's already 10 rushing and 1 receiving and that's in only 9 games. He only needs 5 TD's to beat Franco Harris's single season rushing record and 6 to beat Willie Parkers combined season record. Ok when it comes to combined yardage Bell's record in 2014 will be very hard to ever beat but now that we have Ju Ju and McDonald there's no need to force feed the RB. Yes we have some tough games coming up but confidence at the moment is sky high.

Hococop wrote: »

Think I saw it discussed on speak for yourself, they had Bucky Brooks and he said when worked the office for an NFL team the rule was draft a rb, run them into the ground and after 5 years cut and get the next rb, so imo Bell is right to do what he is doing, guarantee it will happen to Connor aswell

So the Cowboys with let Elliot go, Rams will let Gurley walk if that’s the team rule. Don’t think so.